Methodology

NFCR’s rankings are based on a rigorous process that includes data collection, data cleansing, and statistical analysis. We use a ranking methodology that is easy to find, easy to understand and highly transparent. We employ different methodologies for the 30 age-gender-weapon categories from the National Domestic Point Competitions and the 18 age-gender-weapon categories from designated Cadet, Junior, and Senior International Competitions.

National Domestic Point Competitions

To be eligible for a ranking, a fencing club must have at least one of its fencers’ place in the Top 16 of a USFA National Domestic Point Tournament in one of the following four age divisions:

Youth (Y10, Y12, and Y14)

Cadet (Under 17/Under 16)

Junior (Under 20/Under 19)

Senior (Division 1) and

In the Veteran age group (40 & Older), a club fencer needs to finish on the Podium for a club to be eligible for a “Best Fencing Clubs” ranking.

The top 16 (or Podium) finishers in each competition automatically contribute to their club’s final ranking(s) in each age-gender-weapon category. The number of points earned by a club is therefore determined by the placement of its fencers in the top 16 (or Podium).

Typically, there is a lot of interest in the fencers who make the Podium or the Top 8. Some believe a Top 8 medal points rank is too restrictive to examine how a club has performed and that a Top 16 may be more appropriate. We, therefore, provide three rankings for 30 age-gender-weapon categories:

Podium Medal Points Ranking

Top 8 Medal Points Ranking, and

Top 16 Placement Points Ranking.

The Tournaments

The National Domestic Point Competitions used to rank clubs for 2016-2017 were:

Youth (2016-2017)

Y10 (March 2017 NAC and July 2017 Championship)

Y12 (March 2017 NAC and July 2017 Championship)

Y14 (November 2016 NAC, March 2017 NAC, and July 2017 Championship)

The seven youth events included in this ranking are the normal youth events scheduled every year; three Y-14, two Y-12, and two Y-10 events.The ranking does not include the National Championship event that was canceled in Dallas in 2016 and rescheduled with the 2016 November North American Cup in Milwaukee, WI. These canceled events included the Y10 men’s epee, Y10 women’s foil, Y10 women’s epee, Y10 men’s saber, Y12 men’s foil and Y12 women’s saber competitions.

Fourteen veteran events were used to rank each Veteran’s gender-weapon category in 2016-2017. So for each veteran-gender-weapon category, there were four age groups x three events per year plus the two open events giving a total of 14 Veteran events for each gender-weapon category.

College and University Fencing Rosters for 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

Once a USFA member competes in an RYC, SYC, RJCC, ROC, Division Qualifier or USFA National tournament, the fencer’s club is defined for the season and can only be changed to “Unattached.” In these cases, we simply categorized the fencer’s club as “unattached”. In a number of cases, the fencer’s club was not listed in the tournament results. We searched the data sources to determine if the fencer had club representation or was unattached and made the correction to our database.

In the case of college fencers, we assigned the fencer’s club immediately before they entered college or a new club, which they may have joined while in college. In no case did we use the college or university representations. Our rationale for adopting this approach is explained in part by reading the material in USFA’s Athlete Handbook relating to collegiate or scholastic fencers.

Once we thoroughly examined and updated club memberships for fencers in each of the National Domestic Point Tournaments we were able to allocate points based on a fencer’s placement in the Top 16.

Points

An accumulative tiered point system based on a 100-point scale was used to rank the performance of fencers by their club representation. The 100-point system (adopted by the USFA for its national points systems) is designed to reward fencers commensurate with their placement as illustrated in the accompanying table.

Place

Points

Gold medal (1st)

100

Silver medal (2nd)

92

Bronze medal (3rd)

85

5th

70

6th

69.5

7th

69

8th

68.5

9th

53.5

10th

53

11th

52.5

12th

52

13th

51.5

14th

51

15th

50.5

16th

50

There is bigger point jumps between direct elimination rounds (for example between a fencer placed 9th and one who places 8th, due to the fact that the 8th placed fencer went to the next level in the direct elimination bracket).

In the case of a tie for a medal or placement (other than the bronze medals), the points were averaged for each place involved (e.g., three tied for 13th receive the average of points for 13th, 14th, and 15th place). We also weighted the points for the following events as prescribed by the National Coach for each weapon and outlined in the 2015-2016 Athlete Handbook:

Senior Men’s Saber 2016 December Div 1 NAC at 0.8.

Senior Women’s Saber 2016 July Div 1 Challenge at 0.8

The number of points earned by a club is therefore determined by the placement of its fencers in the Top 16, adjusted for any ties and one-off weightings as prescribed by the National Coach for each weapon. The club’s ranking is based on the total number of points the club’s fencers have accumulated during the season.

The analysis is designed to produce a table in which each club is assigned a specific rank based on the total points amassed (medals/placements multiplied by points) with higher ranks indicating higher performance, lower ranks indicate lower performance. The final point rankings are the basis for our “Fencing Club of the Year” and “Best Fencing Clubs” awards.

International Designated Cadet, Junior and Senior Point Competitions

This year we have greatly expanded our rankings to include the comparative performance between U.S. clubs in the European Cadet Circuit, Junior World Cup and the Senior World Cup, which includes World Cups, Grand Prix and the Senior World Championships.

Cadet International Rankings

To be eligible for a Cadet International ranking, a fencing club must have had at least one of its fencers finish and earn points in one of the Designated Cadet events in the European Cadet Circuit. The Designated Cadet events are chosen by the National Weapon Coach and form part of the National Cadet Team Point Standings for selection of athletes for the Cadet World Championships.

The top fencers who have earned points in Europe automatically contribute to their club’s final rankings. The FIE formula scale of points is applied for each of the Designated events, which are posted on the European Fencing Federation’s website. Before we aggregate the data at the end of the season, we assign points to the three U.S. athletes. and therefore clubs, at the Cadet World Championships based on their place, using the standard FIE formula. We then aggregate the points earned by fencers by their club representation to arrive at our final club ranking.

Junior International Rankings

To be eligible for a Junior International ranking, a fencing club must have had at least one of its fencers finish and earn points in one of the Designated Junior events. The Designated Junior events are chosen by the National Weapon Coach and form part of the National Junior Team Point Standings for selection of athletes for the Junior World Championships.

The top fencers who have earned points in these designated events automatically contribute to their club’s final rankings. The FIE formula scale of points is applied for each of the Designated events, which are posted on the FIE website. We then aggregate the points earned by fencers by their club representation to arrive at our final club ranking. It is not necessary to assign points to the four U.S. athletes at the Junior World Championships as the FIE end-of-year rankings already account for the results at the Junior World Championships.

Senior International Rankings

The methodology for Senior International Rankings is similar to the ranking adopted for Junior International Rankings. To be eligible for a Senior International ranking, a fencing club must have had at least one of its fencers finish and earn points in one of the Designated Senior World Cup and Grand Prix competitions. The Designated Senior events are chosen by the National Weapon Coach and form part of the National Senior Team Point Standings for selection of athletes for Senior World Championships.

The top fencers who have earned points in these designated events automatically contribute to their club’s final rankings. The FIE formula scale of points is applied for each of the Designated events, which are posted on the FIE website. We then aggregate the points earned by fencers by their club representation to arrive at our final club ranking. It is not necessary to assign points to the four U.S. athletes at the Senior World Championships as the FIE end-of-year rankings already account for the results at the Senior World Championships.

Podium Medals, Top 8 Medals and Top 16 Placements Per Club Fencer on Podium, in Top 8 and in Top 16

Number of Club Fencers Participating

Ratio of Podium Medals, Top 8 Medals and Top 16 Placements Per Club Fencer Participating

Number of Club Fencer Events

Ratio of Podium Medals, Top 8 Medals and Top 16 Placements Per Club Fencer Event

Our medal/placement efficiency ratios are designed to examine how well a club has performed based on the total number of its fencers who participated in the events and the total number of fencer events generated by these fencers.

The resulting quotient indicates the individual efficiency of each club’s fencers performance. The higher the ratio, the more efficient a club was in winning medals.

Generally, we encourage readers to compare the efficiency ratios by firstly comparing clubs with a comparable or similar number of club fencers and the number of fencer events, and secondly by comparing a club’s efficiency ratio with the average for all clubs.

Rankings Update

We propose to update the rankings every year to track developments and make comparisons over time. Future release dates for the rankings are as follows:

Cadet, Junior, and Senior International 2017-2018 – Immediately after the 2018 World Fencing Championships in Wuxi, China.

National USA Fencing Tournaments 2017-2018

USFA Fencing has released its National and Regional Tournament scheduled for 2017-2018. While the National Tournament schedule is similar to previous years, the Regional Schedule is the most comprehensive yet and reflects the ongoing regionalism of tournaments by the USFA.

National Fencing Club Rankings (NFCR)

NFCR is an independent organization that provides the fencing community with objective, accurate and in-depth rankings of fencing club performance in the U.S. Clubs listed in our annual “Fencing Club of the Year” and “Best Fencing Clubs” lists can take full advantage of their accomplishments with our customized banners, plaques and digital badges to publicize and market their outstanding achievements.